This invention relates to devices for administration of therapeutic agents to the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses of a patient.
In the United States, sixty million people suffer from chronic sinusitis and allergic rhinitis and are treated by means of antihistamines, antibiotics, decongestants, and pain relievers. Many of these drugs would work more effectively in relieving symptoms if they could be directly applied to all of the affected areas. However, the devices utilized thus far to deliver these drugs have proven to be extremely inadequate, if not useless, in reaching all areas needed especially the deep nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses where it is critical in the treatment of some of these diseases. There is a need for a more effective device to administer these medicines to all the areas of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.
A current delivery system consists of a pressurized canister (MDI) that ejects the medicine into the nostrils in short bursts, or streams of atomized liquid in an aqueous nasal spray. The efficacy of medicine administered in this manner is limited due to difficulties in the medicine reaching very little of the nasal mucosa and no part of paranasal sinuses where it needs to be delivered to fully treat the condition. In cases of severe congestion or nasal polyps, the medicine often does not proceed beyond the nostril and will not be effectively absorbed into the bloodstream or the necessary area of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. Current systems also do not allow particle sizes to be small enough to reach high into the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. There is a need for delivery system alternatives to better deliver more of the medicine to the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses and of the sufferers of these diseases, and others.
A nebulizer is, for example, a machine that converts medicine into a mist, or vapor, of very tiny particles to deliver a drug to the lungs during an attack by breathing the medicine from a pipe attachment or, in the case of young children, a face mask. The particle size is important in that it allows passage of the drug through heavily congested airways over a period of about 10 minutes which allows for deep penetration. Nebulizers are used by asthmatics in case of an asthma attack.
Nasal nebulizers are currently in use for antibiotics and are ineffectively delivered due to the fact they do not deliver into the paranasal sinuses nor as far into the nasal cavity as this device due to the lack of additional technology enclosed herein.